I'll have a beta out next week some time.
So I take it that if I were to do the warp animation via rscripts, there would be a significant difference in performance?
Sure, ill have this guy pop out around corners randomly. Haha.You have lava in your sewer? O_o
Not sure. I wouldn't use warping at all, though. Lava doesn't really warp anyway. It oozes (or gets blasted into the air). But in a situation like you have, it probably wouldn't move at all. What I would do is take your rock layer, make it transparent where the glowing orange/red is, then put another layer under it with either a moving or pulsing orange/red glow.
Alternatively "KnacK's basement".